Björk Cancels Kickstarter Campaign After Falling $562,253 Short of Goal

Last month, Icelandic songstress Björk launched a Kickstarter campaign to reprogram her Biophilia iPad app for Windows 8 and Android. She had hoped to raise a massive £375,000 ($586,282 Canadian), but she evidently bit off more than she could chew, since she has now cancelled the campaign after reaching a mere 4 percent of her goal.

Björk called off the fundraiser today (February 7) after raising £15,370 ($24,030 Canadian). That's a lot of money by most Kickstarter campaigns' standards, but it was £359,630 ($562,253 Canadian) short of what she needed to successfully fund the project. The campaign, which launched on January 28, was previously scheduled to wrap up on February 27.

By reprogramming the Biophilia app for Windows 8 and Android, Björk had hoped to bring it to more people from around the world. The self-described educational app is said to be "a new way to teach children about science and music." Evidently this wasn't enough to inspire donors to fork over their cash for the cause.

A message to backers reads:

We've decided to stop the Kickstarter campaign. Seems like the costs were too gigantic and we too optimistic, so it seemed cleverest to pause it for now. Things seem to be changing fast; perhaps in a year, even months, there will be a far cheaper way to reprogram this. We are extremely grateful for the help we got, though, and want to extend a big thank you to all our contributors, great and small. You guys generously offered your own hard–earned money to something bigger than yourselves that you believe in, and we are deeply touched by your contributions. Once again, thank you. We are still looking at ways of making this happen so send your email address to [email protected] and we'll keep you posted when there's any new developments.

Read more about the Biophilia app here. Watch the app's David Attenborough-narrator intro below.